Editorial: Lack of sleep causing academic downfalls

Last Modified: Thursday, September 12, 2013 7:18 PM
Teens have a tendency to stay up
late and wake up late. The reason? It’s biological. The beginning of
puberty marks the start
of a “phase shift,” with adolescents going to bed later and rising
later than younger children, according to a team of researchers
led by Brown University’s Mary Carskadon. Teens are often unable
to fall asleep at earlier times like they used to, so they
sleep in later to compensate.

It becomes a problem when students have to get up at 6:30 a.m. to catch a bus to school, causing them to miss out on needed
sleep.

For years now, health professionals
have been advising school leaders to start the school day later for
teen students, but
not many of the nation’s schools have taken their advice. Nearly
85 percent of public junior and senior high schools in the
U.S. begin morning classes before 8:30 a.m., with more than 40
percent starting during the 7 o’clock hour, according to
schoolstarttime.org.

Does it really matter? According to the same Web site, students at later-starting schools, those that begin “roughly” at 9
a.m., get more sleep, perform better academically, are involved in fewer vehicle accidents, report greater motivation and
less depression, are physically ill less often, and are less likely to be late for school or miss days.

One 2012 study found that delaying the start of school by an hour — from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. — increased middle school
students’ standardized test scores in math and reading by 2 to 3 percentile points.

The latest champion of the start-school-later cause is Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He said last week that a later start
to the school day could help teenagers get the most from their classroom time and local districts should consider delaying
the first bell.

“Rested students are ready students. There’s lots of research and common sense that lots of teens struggle to get up ... to
get on the bus,” said Duncan, the former chief of Chicago Public Schools.

Yet if so many experts agree it would be better for teens to start classes later, why isn’t much being done?

One issue is school buses. School
districts, often strapped for cash, may not have enough buses to take
all the kids to school
at the same time. High school students generally are the ones to
have earlier morning bus times, with elementary school students
being picked up later.

There are other issues to consider before making a change. How would later start times affect teachers, students’ after-school
activities and parents who bring their children to school and then drive to their jobs?

Just because there are obstacles doesn’t mean the topic should be tabled. “So often, we design school systems that work for
adults and not for kids,” Duncan told NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show.”

Exposing students to the educational experience when they are most likely to absorb it and benefit from is the right thing
to do for them. If a way can be found to implement later start times, let’s do it.

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This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the Board, whose members include Bobby Dower, Jim Beam, Crystal Stevenson and Donna Price.